October Creative Conversations Meeting

On October 9, 2008 the Emerging Upstate Arts Professionals will host RIGHT TO THE SOURCE: A Panel Discussion with Established Arts Professionals & Networking Opportunity at The Saratoga County Arts Council’s Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. The meeting is one of hundreds held throughout the country during the month of October as part of Americans for the Arts Creative Conversations program. Creative Conversations, organized by the Emerging Leaders Network, strives to bring established and emerging arts professionals together for candid discussions about the past, current and future state of the arts and arts administration.

Here is the format: emerging arts professionals will submit questions (to either the whole panel or to an individual) and panel members will have a predetermined amount of time to respond. The questions will be submitted prior to the meeting and a representative from The Saratoga County Arts Council will moderate the conversation. The panel discussion will last about one hour and afterwards we invite all arts professionals, both established and emerging, for a casual networking meeting, complete with food and drinks donated by area businesses.

Already have a question in mind for the panel? Email it to us at emergingartsprofessionals@gmail.com – Questions can also be submitted when you arrive!

Sample Questions: if your question is to a specific panelist, please include the panelist name in your question
1. When reviewing resumes or interviewing, what are you looking for most in a candidate? Advanced degree vs. Experience
2. How has the face of arts administration changed over the past decade?
3. How do you see the face of arts administration changing over the next 5 years? 10 years?
4. Mentorship is a hot topic for emerging arts professionals – do you currently mentor (formally or informally) emerging arts professionals? If so, how? If not, why?.

Let us know if you plan on attending! Contact: Tanya Tobias at 584-4132 x202 or email, ttobias@saratoga-arts.org.

The Panel:

Philip Morris

CEO, Proctor’s Theatre
With over thirty years in the field, Philip Morris has managed multi-million dollar expansion projects, designed and financed major restoration projects, created and expanded collaborative education programs, and significantly increased constituency at both Proctor’s and the Arts Council for Chautauqua County. In his 7 years at Proctor’s he has also revitalized programming for the theatre, doubling the number of events and subscription base, and designed, financed and completed restoration on an adjacent building to include a new gallery space, classrooms, dance studios, and a 150 seat “new works” theatre. In 1996 he received the Most Innovative Arts Administrator award from the Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations.

Joel Reed
Executive Director, The Saratoga County Arts Council
A relative newcomer to the field of arts administration, Joel Reed has been Executive Director of the Saratoga County Arts Council at The Arts Center since January 2007, after serving as the organization’s Associate Director for 3 1/2 years. He has led SCAC through a smooth transition following the retirement of the organization’s long-time and founding director, in the process increasing the organization’s budget and endowment, forging new partnerships with state-wide and national organizations to provide additional services for artists in the Saratoga area and extend the reach of Arts Council programming, welcoming the artwork of John Lennon and the avant garde art collective TODT to Saratoga Springs, and he has turned The Arts Center into a regional locus for new and experimental music. He holds an MA and a Phd in English, and in a previous life was a professor of eighteenth-century British literature and Critical Theory.

Martha Strodel
Director, NYS Arts Rural Arts Program
Martha Strodel has over 35 years experience in not-for-profit arts administration, working as an executive director, program director, funding reviewer, consultant to other nonprofit staffs and boards, and researcher/writer on resources and issues related to building strong community arts organizations. Since 1993, she has been director of the NYS Arts Rural Arts Program, which directly serves cultural organizations with technical assistance, information, services, and networking in 32 rural counties of the state. Martha presently serves on the board of the Warren County Historical Society; has served on the advisory board for the development of the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls, and for many years served on the board of the Lake George Arts Project.

Amy Williams
President & CEO, The Arts Center of the Capital Region
Amy has been an innovator and leader in the fields of arts education and arts-in-education for more than twenty years. The longtime Vice President of The Arts Center, she returned to lead the organization in January 2008, after serving for three years as the Executive Director of the New York State Alliance for Arts Education (NYSAAE). Since assuming the Presidency of the organization, she has led an aggressive and multifaceted effort to expand programming, increase collaborative programming with artists, educators and organizations region-wide, and enhance the organization’s fiscal standing.